IRISH LITERATURE IN ENGLISH- Sean O'Casey in context (&II)

...in other words, a man who learnt to think for himself.

IRISH LITERATURE IN ENGLISH- Sean O'Casey in context (I)

A playwright who sought to defend human dignity and to expose human miseries amidst the chaos of a historic conflict…

GRAMMAR REVISION A2 – EXERCISE

QUESTION FORMS / THE PRESENT SIMPLE / THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS / THE PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE /THE PAST SIMPLE / THE PAST CONTINUOUS / HAVE TO / THE FUTURE / COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES

Fill in the gaps in the following interview with the suitable words:

·        Q: Good afternoon Ann. First of all tell us, where ………….. you from? BE

·        A: I ………….from Canada. BE

·        Q: What ……….you…...... last year? DO

·        A: I mostly …………….. badminton and………….. all over the world. PLAY / TRAVEL

·        Q: ………..you …….….that your friends…………………..you on TV while you………………… in the last competition?                                                           KNOW / WATCH / PLAY

·        A: Yes, I……..

·        Q: ………………….you ever………………. a song? SING

·        A: Ohhhh yess! I actually love………….. but I …………..……usually …………in public because I ……….just too shy.     SING / NOT SING / BE

·        Q: Great! And who’s your…………..singer? FAVOURITE

·        A: I definitely admire Chris Patterson and Ryan Bentley. They are ………………….musicians I …………………ever………………….personally!     FINE / MEET

·        Q: What …………..your plans for the future? BE

·        A: I …………..no idea at the moment. I ……………………..a book about my career as a professional badminton player, but I………………not so sure at the moment.  HAVE / WRITE  / BE

·        Q: Who…………….your favourite athlete? BE

·        A: Well, it ………………. on the discipline. I ……………….Tony Rodgers is ……………..than Jeremy Williams although I certainly……………. that Williams is…………….. I ………….. also a great admirer of Jessica Johansson. She is ………………………. woman I …………. It …………….very hard for me to beat her last year!     DEPEND / THINK / FAST / AGREE / STRONG / BE  / INTELLIGENT / KNOW / BE 

·        Q: ………………you …………………….to play against her again next year?  WANT

·        A: Oh, yes. Definitely. I always………………. playing against her. I am………….but she’s ....................................…, no doubt. But I………… always……………… a lot from her, since we ………………….for the first time, four years ago.                                                                          ENJOY / TALL / SKILLFUL / LEARN / PLAY

·        Q: Finally, What advise …….……you……………….to give to the children who…………………. to play badminton this year at school? WANT / LEARN

·        A: I ………………they……………..practise a lot if they ……………..to be competitive, but they ……………………train very hard if they just ……………..it for fun! Anyway, I ……………….. that right now the …………………………thing for them is to play and have a good time with their friends.                THINK / HAVE TO / WANT / NOT HAVE TO / DO / BELIEVE / IMPORTANT 

READING / LISTENING / AMERICAN LITERATURE - The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Poem with text.

Robert Lee Frost (San Francisco March 26, 1874 – Boston January 29, 1963). A symbolist reflection on individual thinking vs. mass trends.

NEUROLINGUISTICS (discovery) - How do we learn new words?

"Differences in the development of these auditory-motor connections may explain differences in people’s ability to learn words. The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)."

A pathway in the brain that allows humans to learn new words

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME - IN, ON, AT

1. IN
• MONTHS- They will come in August.
• YEARS- Next Olympic Games will take place in 2016
• SEASONS- We play outside in spring and in summer.
• PARTS OF THE DAY- in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening BUT we say”at night”.
• EXPRESSING THE TIME BEFORE A PARTICULAR ACTION TAKES PLACE- We will finish in two minutes. / They will come in two weeks.

2. ON
• HOLYDAYS (specific days) – on Christmas day
• WEEKDAYS- on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, etc.
• ON SPECIFIC DAYS (regardless of the expression including the month and the year) – on Monday 15 January 2012. / on the 14^th of May.

3. AT
• SPECIFIC TIME OF THE DAY- at a quarter to three, at seven o’clock, etc.
• HOLYDAYS (in general) – at Easter, at Christmas
• FIXED TIME EXPRESSIONS- at the end of the week / at the same time / at that particular time / at the moment

B1- PET TEST REINFORCEMENT

In this pdf link some extra practice pages can be found. 

http://www.brookemead-elt.co.uk/downloads/docs/QSE_Pre-Intermediate_A2-B1/QSE_A2-B1_Pre_Int_Exam_Tests/QSE_PRE_TG_P146-161_PET_Exam_Practice_UK.pdf

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH - B1 SUPPORT MATERIALS / PET EXAM OVERVIEW

This is the official Cambridge webpage with an introduction to the PET test and some sample materials.

https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/generalenglish/pet

A2 / B1 / B2 EXAM MATERIALS

This PROGRAMA BEDA webpage is both very, very useful and filled with resources. ABSOLUTELY ADVISABLE.

https://sites.google.com/site/programabeda/home/alumnos/pet/pet-materials

Video SparkNotes: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby summary

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was a member of the famed "Lost Generation" of American writers. His tales are iconic descriptions of America during the "Jazz Age" (the 1920s), a term coined by Fitgerald himself. The Great Gatsby is considered one of the best 20th-century novels by many readers. It is a tale on the frailty of the American Dream and the brutality and shallowness of crude materialism. Gatsby's efforts to recapture his romantic past will prove futile and ultimately tragic.

A2 / B1 / B2 / C1 / C2 - CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EXAM PREPARATION

Free practise tests for learners of English.  

A definitely advisable webpage with practise tests and information about Cambridge levels as well as detailed analyses of the structure of the exams.

http://www.examenglish.com/cambridge_esol.php

LISTENING / READING (SONG) Steven Patrick Morrissey. Come back to Camden

Morrissey's personal impressions on Inner London's famous borough.

There is something I wanted to tell you,

It's so funny you'll kill yourself laughing
But then I, I look around,
And I remember that I am alone,
Alone.
For evermore

The tile yard all along the railings,
Up a discolored dark brown staircase
Here you'll find, despair and I,
Calling to you with what's left of my heart,
My heart,
For evermore

Drinking tea with the taste of the Thames,
Sullenly on a chair on the pavement
Here you'll find, my thoughts and I,
And here is the very last plea from my heart
My heart. For evermore,
Where taxi drivers never stop talking
Under slate grey Victorian sky,
Here you'll find, despair and I
And here I am every last inch of me is yours,
Yours,
For evermore

Your leg came to rest against mine,
Then you lounged with knees up and apart
And me and my heart, we knew,
We just knew,
For evermore

Where taxi drivers never stop talking,
Under slate grey Victorian sky
Here you'll find, my heart and I,
And still we say come back,
Come back to Camden
And I'll be good, I'll be good,
I'll be good, I'll be good

Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning | MIT Technology Review

"Udacity cofounder and CEO Sebastian Thrun says more AI is coming to online education, but we’ll still need humans to grade our English essays". 

Sebastian Burkhard Thrun (born May 14, 1967) is a German educator and computer scientist who is linked to Stanford University, Google and the MIT and cofounder of Udacity, a private educational organisation which offers massive open online courses or MOOCs.  
AI - Artificial Intelligence
MIT- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning | MIT Technology Review

LISTENING / READING (SONG)- Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE - Hometown Glory (On Screen Lyrics)

• MBE- Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Adele’s personal tribute to London in general and Tottenham in particular.  

I've been walking in the same way as I did
Missing all the cracks in the pavement
And tutting my heel
And strutting my feet
"Is there anything I can do for you dear
Is there anyone I can call"
"No and thank you
Please Madam
I ain't lost
Just wandering"

Round my hometown memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh
The people I've met are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of this world
Are the wonders now

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque
I love to see everybody in short skirts
Shorts and shades
I like it in the city when two worlds collide
You get the people and the government
Everybody taking different sides

Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit
Shows that we are united
Shows that we ain't gonna take it

Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit
Shows that we are united

Round my hometown memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh
The people I've met
Yeah

Doo
Da da da da da da da da da
Yeah

Doo
Da da da da da da da
Yeah

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Oh
Yeah

Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of my world
Are the wonders of this world
Are the wonders of my world
Of my world
Yeah
Of my world
Of my world
Yeah

 

B1 RESOURCES - PET SPEAKING TEST- WRITEFIX

An extremely handy and resourceful webpage for PET SPEAKING TEST.


http://writefix.com/?page_id=359

GREAT ENGLISH LITERATURE SCHOLARS- Dame Margaret Drabble CBE (Sheffield, 1939)

• Editor of  The Oxford Companion to English Literature (Revised 6th Edition, 2006).

• CBE- Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Dame Margaret Drabble CBE | United Agents

ENGLISH LITERATURE- WILLIAM BLAKE (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) Two of his most famous poems.

In these two poems we can clearly appreciate the two different feelings of the author throughout these key years in Modern History. At the beginning of the French Revolution (1789- 1799) the author sympathises with the revolutionary cause, thus the feeling of fraternity, sympathy and hope showed in “The Lamb”, which subsequently impregnates the whole Songs of Innocence. The bloody development of the French revolutionary process will move Blake’s feelings towards disenchantment and scepticism, hence the cruelty and even brutality showed in Songs of Experience. These two works would be eventually published in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. Many poems are paired (as it is the case of the works presented here) to highlight these “two contrary states of the human soul”.

"The Lamb" from Songs of Innocence (1789) Little Lamb who made thee   Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice:   Little Lamb who made thee   Dost thou know who made thee   Little Lamb I'll tell thee,   Little Lamb I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name.   Little Lamb God bless thee.   Little Lamb God bless thee.

"The Tyger" from Songs of Experience (1794) Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, & what art. Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

READING / LISTENING (SONG ) Lana Del Rey - Blue Velvet

Lana Del Rey version of the song 'Blue Velvet',  by Tony Bennett (1951); also sung by Bobby Vinton.

(LYRICS):
She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet was the night
Softer than satin was the light
From the stars

She wore blue velvet
Bluer than velvet were her eyes
Warmer than may her tender sighs
Love was ours

Ours a love I held tightly
Feeling the rapture grow
Like a flame burning brightly
But when she left, gone was the glow of

Blue velvet
But in my heart there'll always be
Precious and warm a memory, through the years
And I still can see blue velvet through my tears.

GREAT ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOLARS: Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943)

Life and work of one of the founding fathers of IPA (International Phonetic Association/Alphabet), among many other things.

Parrot Time - Otto Jespersen - Progress of Language

ENGLISH PRONOUNS - PERSONAL PRONOUNS

SUBJECT                      OBJECT
I                                         me
You                                    you 
He                                     him
She                                    her
It                                        it
We                                     us 
You                                    you 
They                                 them

B1 LISTENING (SONG) Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald - Summertime - Lyrics

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - The Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066)

The single key event which shaped modern English as old Old English blended with Anglo-Norman during the centuries that followed the battle.

B1 / B2- LISTENING / READING (SONG) - David Bowie - Heroes + lyrics

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day

And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that

Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be heroes, just for one day

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day

We can be heroes
We can be heroes
We can be heroes
Just for one day
We can be heroes

We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day

EDUCATION. IDEAS. TALK - Teaching, learning and technology in the 21st Century

A2 / B1 GRAMMAR- The future (I)

1. We can use the present simple to refer to a future event when it is scheduled:
• We have an exam next week.
• The train leaves at 2 pm.
• The programme starts at 8.

2.  We use the present continuous for future arrangements (official events and specified plans):
• We’re playing against your team next week. (We are talking about an official competition)
• The ministers are meeting in London next Monday.
• We are flying to Toronto next week. We are meeting some CEOs shortly after our arrival.

  

3. We use will + infinitive for:

a)      Predictions: It will rain tomorrow.

b)      Offers and Promises: I will call you next week.

c)      Decisions made at the moment of speaking: OK. I’ll send you an email with the information when I arrive home.

4. We use be going to for:

a)      Plans and decisions made before the moment of speaking:

       They are going to visit their cousin next week.

       I’m going to play basketball with my friend this afternoon (informal match)

b)       Describing events that are highly likely to happen soon:

 Look at the boy! He is going to fall!

 Look at those dark clouds. It’s going to start to rain before we get to the    school.

5. May, might, could + infinitive:

a)      May (+ probable): They may arrive on time tomorrow. (50 % chances).

b)      Might (- probable): She might turn up tonight but I don’t think so.

                                        (20-30% chances)

c)      Could (- probable): They could hire that coach for the next season, though the  incumbent one has a lot of possibilities to stay. (20-30% chances)

A2 / B1 / B2 - THESAURUS: At the airport

• A. aircraft /  air hostess / airline / airline counter / airport / aisle seat / arrivals
• B. baggage; luggage / baggage allowance / baggage claim / baggage compartment / boarding pass / briefcase
• C. carry-on luggage / checked luggage / check-in desk / cockpit / control tower / copilot / crew / customs / customs official
• D. delayed / departure lounge / departures / domestic flight / duty free
• E. emergency exit / emergency landing / excess baggage
• F. final destination / flight attendant / flight number
• G. gate
• I. immigration / immigration official / international flight
• J. jet lag
• L. landing / life vest / luggage / baggage / luggage allowance / luggage compartment
• M. meeting point
• O. on schedule / one-way trip
• P. passport / passengers lounge / pilot / plane
• R. restroom ; lavatory / runway
• S. seat / seat belt / shuttle bus / suitcase
• T. take-off / terminal / timetable / time of arrival / time of departure / to board / to check in / to fasten the seatbelt / to land / to take off / tourist / travel agency / trolley / turbulence
• V. visa
• W. window seat

C2. READING. CLASSIC AMERICAN LITERATURE.

    Walden  (1854) by Henry David Thoreau
Chapter II: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

    "(...)The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.
      I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."
Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion. (...)"
                                                   FROM WIKISOURCE

A2 / B1 GRAMMAR- STATIVE VERBS

Some English verbs (the stative verbs) aren’t used in the continuous tenses (such as the present continuous, the past continuous or the future continuous ). They usually express a state, feeling or condition, not an action. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Stative Verb List

·        Agree /  Appear /  Astonish

·        Be / Believe /  Belong

·        Consist / Contain

·    Deny / Depend / Deserve / Disagree / Dislike / Doubt  
 Fit  / Fancy

·        Hate /  Have (possess) / Hear

·        Imagine / Impress /  Involve

·        Know

·        Lack / Like / Look (seem) / Love

·        Matter / Mean / Measure / Mind

·        Need

·        Owe / Own

·        Please / Possess / Prefer / Promise

·        Realise/ Recognise / Remember

·        Satisfy / See / Seem / Smell / Sound / Suppose / Surprise

·        Taste / Think (have an opinion)

·        Understand

·        Want / Weigh / Wish 

Some verbs can be stative and dynamic (verbs that represent an action and can be used in the progressive form –ING), depending on the meaning:

Be is normally a stative verb, but when it is used in the continuous it means ‘behaving’ or ‘acting’ (in some way or other) :

a)      you are crazy = that’s your personality  STATIVE

      b)  you are being crazy = at the moment you are behaving in a crazy way  DYNAMIC

Have when refers to possession is stative.

a)      He has two dogs. STATIVE

   But when it is part of an expression, it can be used as a dynamic verb:

b)      She is having breakfast / a good time / a party / a shower … DYNAMIC

Look: Your new garden looks wonderful (has a certain appearance) STATIVE

            I’m just looking (see) DYNAMIC

Measure: It measures 5 m (actual length). STATIVE

                 At the moment, the engineers are measuring the area (They are working on it). DYNAMIC

Think: I think it will rain tomorrow (opinion) STATIVE

             I’m thinking about the exam (action in progress in the mind) DYNAMIC      

See: I see your point now.  (view / understand) STATIVE

        I’m seeing my old friends tomorrow (meet) DYNAMIC

Taste: It tastes wonderful.  (It has a certain taste) STATIVE

          She is tasting the coffee (she is performing the action of tasting something) DYNAMIC

A1 / A2 / B1 - LISTENING & READING

News for students of English.

http://www.newsinlevels.com/

EDUCATION. TALK. IDEAS FOR TEACHERS - Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS - PhoTransEdit (English Phonetic Transcription) Text to Phonetics

 Text2Phonetics is a PhoTransEdit Online application that transcribes small English texts into broad phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

PhoTransEdit (English Phonetic Transcription) Text to Phonetics

ALL LEVELS - PRONUNCIATION: Phonemic chart (by the British Council / BBC)

This is the new British Council phonemic chart. Help your students hear the sounds of English by clicking on the symbols below. Click on the top right hand corner of each symbol to hear sample words including the sounds. 
Phonemic chart

B1 / B2 WORD FORMATION

1. Affixes

The words in the alphabetical list may be extended by the use of one or more of these affixes:

mini- with nouns, sometimes without a hyphen, e.g. minibus, mini-tour

non- with nouns and adjectives, e.g. non-essential

re- with verbs and their related nouns, usually without a hyphen, e.g. rename, renaming

self- with nouns and adjectives, e.g. self-importance, self-confident

un- negative prefix, e.g. unsafe

-able with verbs, to form adjectives, e.g. affordable

-ed (-d) with verbs, to form adjectives, e.g. limited, used

-er (-r) with verbs, to form nouns, e.g. teacher, advertiser; shopper, also comparative forms, e.g. brighter                                                                                                                             

-ese for nationalities/languages, e.g. Japanese

-ess referring to a woman or female animal, e.g. princess, lioness

N.B. it is less common to refer to women in this way nowadays, and usually safer to use the ‘standard’ form e.g. actor, author

-est superlative forms, e.g. tallest

-ful with nouns, for amount contained, e.g. spoonful; with nouns to form adjectives denoting

        characteristics or qualities, e.g. painful, peaceful

-ing with verbs, for activity or state, e.g. reading, frightening

-ish for nationalities or languages, e.g. Swedish; with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. childish

-ist with nouns, for occupations, e.g. novelist, guitarist

-less with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. breathless

-ly with adjectives to form adverbs, e.g. seriously; with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. friendly

-ment with verbs to form nouns, e.g. enjoyment

-or with verbs to form nouns, for people, e.g. inventor

-y with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. hair- hairy, sun- sunny